What's it like in Canada?

The most common question I get when people find out I'm Canadian is "What's Canada like?" I can't say what Canada is like. I've been a city person for my whole life. I have been to rural areas in Canada but mostly in urban. Urban life in Canada is fairly similar to life in New York. The only main difference is that in Montreal they speak French instead of English. Of course in other cities in Canada such as Toronto, the official language in English. I'm from Quebec where the official language is French. Like the United States, there people of many races. I can't speak for everyone in Canada, but the music listened to there is mostly American music, and occasionally music from France. I don't understand why people get shocked when they find out I'm Canadian. I assume that it's because you don't really meet a Canadian immigrant very often. It's been such a long time since I've been back to Canada, and although it's almost the same as new York, I still miss it very much. But of course New York has almost replaced Montreal from my heart.

Last semester I was in Film Making class with Ms. Mason, and we were watching a documentary called Bowling for Columbine. There's a part in the documentary that Michael Moore travels to Canadian cities and interviews people. Later on in the film he interviews people here from New York and asks fellow New Yorkers what they know about Canada. Some responses were that Canadians don't speak any language other than English. Among one of the responses that pestered me was that Canada was a safe place. To be honest, no place is really "safe" so long as guns and other weapons exists, so does crime. I don't really think Canada is "safer" than the U.S. When a New Yorker was asked "Why do you think Canada has such low crime?" he responded "Because America was exposed to more violence with out history and movies." I obviously disagree, Canadians watch American movies all the time, whether it's in English or translated into French. People seem to forget that Canada once belonged to France and England and no longer belong to them. Canada had the same problems as the U.S.

The sense of identity is hard to say now a days. If you're interracial, you don't know what to put first. When people ask me what I am, I usually say French-Canadian and Guatemalan. I don't like saying just Canadian. What I've been noticing all my life is that many people from different generations are beginning to be interracial. What I hope for the future is that racism could end, with all these interracial relationships happening.